Resident’s fear of a ‘mini sinkhole’ in Cooden street

A resident is calling for the council to investigate a series of defects on a Cooden street which he fears could turn into a sinkhole.

The stretch of Cooden Sea Road, between Cooden Close and Maple Avenue, currently boasts a series of deep dips.

Birkdale resident Laurence Parsons says the council keeps filling in the dips - only for them to return.

And he says the problem is getting worse.

He told the Observer: “It’s been getting like it for quite a few months.

“It makes quite a serious dip in the road.

“They keep topping them up and they never get to the root of the problem.

“They are getting quite deep.

“It makes you wonder if you could end up with a mini sinkhole.”

Mr Parsons says he has reported the defects to East Sussex County Council several times.

He said: “I sent an email a fortnight ago last Friday.

“I said there are a lot of these potholes and they follow the line of what may be the main drainage.

“Occasionally they will go out and either put a blue or white marker around the edge of the thing.

“But this has been going on for a while now.”

Mr Parsons feels that rather than filling in the hole, the council should carry out further investigations.

He said: “You would think that at least they would dig the road up to find out what is going on.

“There must be a void as it’s all going somewhere.”

Mr Parsons added: “It leaves a little cavity which sinks down when a small truck or a bus goes over.

“It’s not good. It’s not safe and it’s very damaging to vehicles.”

A similar series of dips have been reported on nearby Withyham Road, at the junction of Kewhurst Avenue.

These have also been filled in by the council, but the road surface continues to ‘sag’.

A spokeswoman from East Sussex County Council said: “We routinely inspect the road network in East Sussex and carry out any urgent repairs that are necessary. Our highways steward is due to visit the site today (Thursday, July 14) to carry out further inspection and will take any action required.”

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